


Mistletoe

by pure1magination



Category: Fantastic Four, Marvel, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), X-Men: The Animated Series
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Christmas Party, Crushes, Mistletoe, Multi, Romantic Fluff, and only two idiots talk about their feelings, in which a bunch of idiots finally kiss, one idiot faints
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-10
Updated: 2014-11-10
Packaged: 2018-02-24 21:56:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2597804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pure1magination/pseuds/pure1magination
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pepper has had it up to here with the unresolved sexual and romantic tension pervading Stark Tower. She and JARVIS collaborate in a scheme involving mistletoe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mistletoe

Pepper storms into her office, cheeks tinted scarlet, eyes bright, fists clenched. “JARVIS!”

_“Yes, madame?”_

She slams her fists on her desk. “I have had it up to here with these men! There are at _least_ six people that are _blatantly mooning at each other_ , and _every single one of them_ has asked in the _least_ subtle way if the other is going to be at Stark’s annual Christmas party!” She throws her hands up in frustration. “I may as well wear a guest list around my neck! I am _so_ tired of telling everyone who’s gonna be there when they really only want to know about _one person!”_

_“I can arrange for a guest list to be projected anywhere you like.”_

Pepper laughs drily. “That’s not the problem. The problem is they’re all _men_ and they _refuse_ to talk about their feelings!”

_“I find that remark rather sexist, Ms. Potts.”_

She glares at a wall. “You’re not even technically male. You’re a _machine._ And I don’t _care_ whether it’s because of some stupid macho thing or because they’re all just stubborn, whatever it is, they really need to talk through it! I’m going to explode if I have to watch all these people admiring each other across the room and doing nothing about it _all night.”_

_“Perhaps there is something that can be done to remedy the situation..”_

“I’m all ears.”

_“Have you considered mistletoe?”_

“Mistletoe?!” Pepper is so relieved and finds this idea so brilliant, she thinks she could kiss him, if he weren’t an intangible voice/ robot.

_“Yes, I do believe you are familiar with the tradition..”_

“I am! Oh, that’s _brilliant,_ JARVIS!”

_“I would suggest hanging it throughout the common room, perhaps over couches and in doorways. Wherever people are likely to sit or stand.”_

Pepper has already thought of half a dozen places to hang mistletoe. “Where can I buy some?”

_“I’ve compiled a list as we were speaking. Shall I order some for you? It can be here tomorrow.”_

“Yes! Thank you JARVIS!”

_“Of course, Ms. Potts.”_

* * *

Loud poppy versions of festive holiday music are piping through the loudspeakers. Stark Tower is decked out in red and green and gold, tinsel and wreaths and holly berries everywhere. Tony thought it would be hilarious to place Iron Man masks around the place, claiming “They match the color scheme!” which Pepper couldn’t argue because it is technically true. Upon entering the common room, guests are immediately assaulted by the scents of cranberry, eggnog, clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, butter, mashed potatoes, roast bird, and a strong undercurrent of pine. The entire room is sparkling with decorations. It’s almost garish, but for the low firelike lighting which makes the decorations glitter welcomingly, and which lends a warm tone to the entire room.

Groups have already formed; Natasha and Clint are laughing about something with Steve and Sam near the punch bowl- which Pepper made sure was _not_ spiked- and it doesn’t even contain punch, it contains mulled carbonated cider. Bucky is munching on a cookie nearby and pretending not to be watching Steve out of the corner of his eye. Peter Parker is joking around with Deadpool; Peter keeps casting lingering glances at Steve and Bucky. Deadpool keeps casting longing glances at Thor. Thor is remarking, in his loud booming voice, to Loki how their everyday garb matches the color scheme, and seems expectant that Loki will be amused by this as well. But Loki is ignoring Thor in favor of watching Tony; Loki’s expression is guarded, and Tony has yet to notice he is being watched by Loki because Tony is deep in conversation with Bruce Banner and Jane Foster about something and using a lot of big words that Loki does not understand. The Fantastic Four are all present, and have yet to mingle with anyone else since they have recently arrived, and all together. Ben keeps looking hopefully over at Bruce, with whom he has forged a tentative friendship. Reed and Susan are glancing over there as well, with interest in Tony and Jane, respectively. Johnny seems to have no interest whatsoever in Reed or Susan. Thusfar, he has only talked to Ben, grinned hello at Peter, who flipped him off and then grinned back, and aside from that, has been casting hopeful glances at the door.

The X-Men arrive all at once, turning the heads of roughly half the people in the room. Hank is carrying a large present for someone. Rogue is sticking close to Logan, who seems disgruntled, but also protective of Rogue. Storm, Jean, and Scott are all walking next to each other and smiling pleasantly at everyone they make eye contact with. Jubilee makes a beeline for Peter; the two hug warmly and start talking energetically about something. Logan settles near the desserts, picking up a brownie and examining it skeptically before biting into it. He and Bucky make eye contact; understated aggression flashes between the two of them before they give each other guarded smiles; neither of them want to be there, and they have found solace in finding someone who also doesn’t want to be there. Rogue seems relieved that she and Logan are no longer so close to so many people, and relaxes somewhat as she starts eating from the dessert tray.

Susan is watching Johnny, who is trying not to look too deflated that there is someone missing from the group. The Fantastic Four have migrated in the general direction of Tony, Bruce, and Jane. Johnny goes along with them and says a pleasant hello to Tony; the two exchange some snark and shake hands before Johnny completely loses interest in the conversation that erupts between the other six people surrounding him. He considers joining Peter, Deadpool, and Jubilee. Glances at the door. Sends confused glances towards the other X-Men, as though suspecting one of them is hiding Gambit.

Steve has noticed Bucky, and smiled warmly and invited him to join him, Natasha, Clint, and Sam. Bucky shoots an apologetic glance towards Logan, who dismisses him in favor of sheltering Rogue and exploring the dessert tray. Bucky joins the only people in this room he really enjoys being around. All four happily welcome him to their group. Natasha and Clint communicate something silently to each other, glancing pointedly at the small amount of space between Steve and Bucky. Sam catches one of these silent snippets of conversation and silently communicates he sees it too.

Deadpool has noticed Thor and left Peter and Jubilee in favor of tackling Thor in an enthusiastic hug. Loki has backed away, repelled by the enthusiastic display of affection, and was heading towards Bucky when Bucky joined Steve and his group, so is now pretending to be fascinated by Midgardian finger foods. Logan seems amused by this and starts a somewhat stilted conversation with the disgruntled Norse god. Rogue proves to be an unexpectedly helpful buffer; Loki seems oddly calmed by her presence. Logan and Loki remark upon the garishness of the decorations and the volume of the distasteful music. Rogue quietly enjoys her cookies and reminds them that the food is good.

Johnny has given up trying to be interested in the conversations going on between Tony and Reed and Bruce and Ben and Susan and Jane, and has wandered off in the general direction of Peter. Peter and Jubilee are very enthusiastically in conversation about something; they try to include Johnny in their conversation, but the effort is stilted and Johnny can’t help feeling like a third wheel. He wanders over towards Deadpool, but Thor and Deadpool are having a serious discussion about something and once again, Johnny does not feel welcome. Johnny migrates towards the punch bowl. He is surprised that Logan and Loki seem to be hitting it off. He is _not_ surprised that Steve and Bucky are standing way too close to each other and blocking the punch bowl. “’Scuse me.” Steve and Bucky move away as one; Steve and Bucky and the rest of his group move off to the side a little so people can access the punch bowl.

Susan and Reed migrate over towards Jean, Scott, and Storm. The five of them begin a pleasant conversation. Ben is left talking with Bruce; Tony suddenly feels like a third wheel and moves away a bit with Jane, who is sadly watching Thor. Tony places a reassuring hand on her shoulder and awkwardly informs her there are other fish in the sea. Or other gods in the clouds. Whatever makes her feel better. Jane thanks him and leaves to join Susan and Jean and Storm. She has a particular interest in Storm. Storm is more than happy to talk about her abilities. Jane starts taking notes.

Gambit enters the common room, carrying a present and looking a bit sheepish. He locates the Christmas tree, sets the present down on the pile with all the other ones, and scans the room. His eyes land on Johnny.

Johnny immediately feels Gambit’s gaze and heads towards him. He doesn’t know what to say, so he just offers a gingerbread man he’d been holding. Gambit smiles and gladly accepts the cookie.

Jubilee takes a running leap at Gambit and envelopes him in a hug. Johnny backs away, annoyed and looking a bit rejected. Gambit fondly hugs her back and sets her down; he ruffles her hair and they banter briefly about him being late. Peter stands awkwardly nearby. He and Johnny greet each other again. Jubilee backs off of Gambit, punches Johnny in the shoulder, and stands next to Peter. The four of them engage in a conversation that neither Peter nor Johnny want to be a part of. Gambit’s charisma smooths out the whole situation, though, and soon all four of them are laughing. Gambit has his arm draped casually around Johnny’s shoulders; Johnny is leaning into him a bit, eyes bright.

Tony has wandered over to Loki and broken up the conversation between Loki, Logan, and Rogue by immediately unleashing a rushing stream of snark and babble upon the Norse god. Loki calmly and sarcastically responded to his banter; during this Logan and Rogue moved away and are now conferring in low voices near a wall, expressions serious.

Bruce and Ben are still deep in conversation; Bruce seems certain he can do something about Ben’s ‘condition’. Hank has joined them and seems interested in this prospect as well. Bruce is now speaking to both of them about symptoms and biology and types of radiation.

Jane is sitting rather close to Storm- “Please, call me Ororo” –and avidly taking notes, fascinated by everything she says. Jean and Scott, Susan and Reed are still having a pleasant four-way conversation, but seem amused by Jane’s fascination with Storm.

Steve and Bucky, Sam, Natasha, and Clint, have migrated over to a couch and seem perfectly content to talk with no one but each other for the rest of the evening.

Tony and Loki are having a snark war by the dessert table.

Logan and Rogue have found a small couch with just enough room for the two of them, with a comfortable amount of space between them. Rogue is scanning the room, interested in socializing but afraid to approach anybody. Logan just wants to go home.

Deadpool has wandered sadly away from Thor and joined Jubilee, Peter, Gambit, and Johnny. Peter isn’t sure what to say to Deadpool. Gambit manages once more to smooth the situation over with his charisma; he cracks a joke, which Johnny adds onto, and soon the two of them are finishing each other’s sentences and interjecting phrases to make the entire conversation funnier. Deadpool is laughing; Peter and Jubilee are laughing onto each other; Johnny and Gambit have turned the jokefest into a competition, though mostly it’s Johnny turning it into a competition and Gambit is humoring him by going along with it. There is a warm sparkle in Gambit’s eyes whenever he looks at Johnny. Ironically, Johnny is never looking when this happens.

Natasha and Clint have gone into the kitchen to check on something. Sam tries to keep the conversation going while they are gone, but he feels like he’s missing something because Steve and Bucky seem to be having a silent conversation with their eyes, and he’s pretty sure they’re both missing about half of the subtext of their own conversation because Steve’s arm is around Bucky’s shoulders, Bucky’s side is pressed up against Steve, the two of them are staring into each other’s eyes, Steve’s fingers keep absently massaging Bucky’s shoulder, and both keep glancing at each other’s mouths, but both keep turning to him as though expecting Sam to say something intelligent and start the conversation back up again. Sam keeps making halfhearted attempts at talking, but the conversation stream keeps dribbling to a stop after a few sentences. He sighs and says he’ll be right back; he heads towards the punch bowl.

Deadpool is the first one who notices the mistletoe, and he’s about to say something about it when he notices two things. One, there is a lot of mistletoe. There are clumps of it hanging over every doorway, over every chair, and every couch, and even a few near the snack table and the punch bowl. Two, there seems to be a lot of sexual tension going on. He has this look on his face, which is unreadable because of the mask; all Johnny and Peter can tell is that Deadpool has stopped laughing and is staring off into space. Deadpool nods at nothing and walks away without saying anything.

Peter pulls Jubilee in the general direction of the snacks, telling her he really wants some cookies. Jubilee is a little confused at the abrupt end to the conversation, but is always up for cookies. She smiles goodbye at Gambit and Johnny and follows Peter to the snacks.

Johnny wonders aloud what Jubilee’s power is. “She makes things explode, right? But isn’t that _your_ power? Does more than one X-Man have the same power? And how come you’re called the X-Men if not all of you are men?” Gambit ends up getting into an in-depth explanation of the differences between his and Jubilee’s powers, the finer points of what they can and cannot do, and admits he hadn’t thought of the name before. They end up in an in-depth conversation about feminism.

Tony and Loki’s snark war has heated up; they are currently poking each other in the chest and snarling at each other. For this reason, no one is grabbing any plates or napkins for their snacks; they give the pair a wide berth and simply pick up their assorted cookies and desserts.

Thor seems both baffled and amused by Deadpool’s sudden insistence that they stand in the nearest doorway.

Jubilee has noticed a sprig of mistletoe near the punch bowl where she and Peter are standing. She points up at it. Peter blushes and starts stuttering something. Jubilee rolls her eyes and kisses Peter on the cheek.

Sam has wandered back over to Steve and Bucky and noticed a sprig of mistletoe directly over Steve’s head. He is contemplating how best to reveal this.

Natasha and Clint have returned from the kitchen. “Five more minutes,” Nat says to Sam as she and Clint take their places back on the couch. Sam subtly conveys to them that Steve is sitting under mistletoe. The three of them have a mostly silent conversation about this development.

Steve and Bucky are so absorbed in each other that they seem to have forgotten that anyone else is in the room. They are sharing a gaze of utter devotion, as though each thinks the other got up there and hung the moon, and if either decided to travel to the moon, both know the other would come with them.

Deadpool explains the tradition of mistletoe to Thor. Thor unleashes a booming laugh and asks if that is why Deadpool pulled him into a doorway. Deadpool is somewhat dodgy about this, even though that is exactly why and both of them know it; Thor grabs Deadpool by the shoulders and favors him with a firm kiss on the lips.

Deadpool faints.

Bucky is confused as to why Clint and Sam are grinning and pointing up over and over again. Steve is too busy admiring Bucky’s jaw to notice his expression or where he is looking. Bucky finally glances up. His eyes widen. He sees the mistletoe. His cheeks slowly turn pink. “What is it, Buck?” Steve asks, noting Bucky’s expression.

Bucky clears his throat and points up. Steve is confused at first. Then he glances up and sees the mistletoe. He turns hot pink all the way to the tips of his ears and jumps away from Bucky, stuttering something about how Bucky doesn’t have to if he doesn’t want to, about how it’s just a silly tradition and he really doesn’t have to; meanwhile Bucky is feeling increasingly insecure and trying to interject and finally asks if Steve even _wants_ to. He sounds a bit hurt.

Steve backtracks rapidly and asks if _Bucky_ wants to. Bucky bites his lip and looks away. Steve sits closer again and asks Bucky, softer, if he wants to. Bucky shrugs a shoulder and admits he’s _always_ wanted to.

“Bucky…” But Steve doesn’t give Bucky time to say anything else because soon he’s cupping Bucky’s jaw and gently, cautiously, bringing their lips together. Bucky closes his eyes, a tear escaping, as his expression changes from fear and worry to relief as he tugs Steve closer and kisses back.

Sam, Natasha, and Clint congratulate themselves. They plan on thanking whoever’s idea it was to hang that mistletoe.

Jubilee darts behind Gambit, with Peter in tow, and whispers something in his ear, pointing up. She has darted away again by the time Gambit glances up and notes that he is standing under mistletoe. Johnny wonders what Gambit is looking at and looks up as well. He blushes hot pink, eyes wide, and starts stuttering something about how he didn’t even _see_ that there and there is _no way_ he _meant_ to be standing under that, protests that he’s primarily attracted to women, not that Gambit isn’t _attractive_ , because _goddamn_ , and he’s just digging his hole deeper and deeper when Gambit says Johnny’s name softly, cupping his face. Johnny falls silent and finds himself staring into those startlingly beautiful red-and-black eyes. Gambit smirks, all smoothness and confidence, and kisses Johnny. Johnny’s back and shoulders stiffen; his heart is pounding; he’s had a crush on this smooth motherfucker for months but was scared to put a label on it because he’s never had feelings like this for a _man_ before. Gambit keeps kissing Johnny until Johnny relaxes; Gambit is holding Johnny up; Johnny’s arms wind around Gambit’s neck and their torsos press together; they look like something straight out of a romance novel.

Steve and Bucky have stopped kissing and are now resting their foreheads against each other and smiling bashfully.

Thor is confused as to why Deadpool fainted and is poking him to see if he is all right.

Tony and Loki have stopped shouting and have started making out.

Johnny and Gambit are still kissing.

“Turkey’s done,” Natasha remarks, heading for the kitchen.

“Oh thank God,” Pepper remarks as soon as she sees video feed of Tony and Loki kissing.

_“It seems your scheme was successful, Ms. Potts.”_

“It was!” she agrees, watching footage of various people hugging and kissing. “Thanks for your help, JARVIS.”

_“Anything for you, Ms. Potts.”_

Pepper frowns at the wall. “JARVIS?”

_“Yes, Ms. Potts?”_

“You don’t have a crush on anyone, do you? You’d tell me if you did, right?”

_“Of course I would, Ms. Potts.”_

Pepper contemplates this, chewing on a pen. “Thanks, JARVIS.”

_“Of course, Ms. Potts.”_ She doesn’t see the little blue heart that flashes across the screen as he leaves.

* * *

 


End file.
